What happened to the cpo inventory?

[Canuck]

If Tesla promises something, they should only do that if they intend to actually follow through, and they should do so.

You're right but sometimes it helps to look at things from the bigger picture, or to at least try to put the disappointment in perspective. In my view, one of the main reasons (or the main reason) we have this truly amazing vehicle is because people dared to promise us what was once only "pie in the sky", to borrow your words. It's really hard, or perhaps impossible, to keep a lid on that type of thinking and, more often than not, it gets way, way, way, ahead of itself. But if it didn't, we'd all be driving our ice, hybrids or low range EV's. Sometimes you just have to take the bad with the good or you don't get any good at all.

Leonardo da Vinci "promised" the helicopter, by conceptually inventing it, nearly 400 years before it was actually invented. Think of the disappointment of all those people who saw the drawings but never got to see one actually fly, let alone fly in one! Something tells me that's the modern day equivalent of Elon Musk and Mars, if we don't self-destruct as a species first, which I fear we will.

 

[brianman]

Leonardo da Vinci "promised" the helicopter, by conceptually inventing it, nearly 400 years before it was actually invented. Think of the disappointment of all those people who saw the drawings but never got to see one actually fly, let alone fly in one! Something tells me that's the modern day equivalent of Elon Musk and Mars, if we don't self-destruct as a species first, which I fear we will.

That's quite different from listing specifications, taking customer money, and then delivering a vehicle that doesn't meet those specifications.

 

[Canuck]

That's quite different from listing specifications, taking customer money, and then delivering a vehicle that doesn't meet those specifications.

I don't know about that. Everything is relative. We're talking about 500 years ago so obviously thing were different then but when we compare, taking the changes in society, commerce and technology into account, there's really not much difference between Tesla and Leonardo. For example, da Vinci was a notoriously slow painter, and many of his works were never finished despite him being paid for many of them. The Louvre in Paris is home to "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne," an unfinished painting depicting the Virgin Mary, an infant Jesus and Mary's mother, St. Anne. Hanging in one of the Vatican Museums is "St. Jerome in the Wilderness," another unfinished da Vinci painting — this one portraying the hermitic St. Jerome and his companion, a tamed lion. Perhaps the most intriguing of da Vinci's unfinished works is his painting "The Adoration of the Magi," which allegedly features a depiction of the young artist himself. The painting, left incomplete in 1481, has been held at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, since 1670. After abandoning his patrons in Florence to start afresh in Milan, Leonardo needed to drum up new business, and it's a good thing there were no forums in those days or we'd surely be able to find long threads of "Da Vinci over promises but under-delivers" on the Leonardo.com forum. In any event, his strategy was now to ingratiate himself to Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. Under Sforza, da Vinci was commissioned to create what would have been the crowning achievement of his artistic career: a giant bronze statue of a horse. The project, however, was abandoned.

I cut and pasted a lot of the above from facts on da Vinci's life and just added some humour but you can look it up for yourself if you don't believe me. Really, there's striking similarities, and very little difference, between Tesla and Leonardo.

As I said, sometimes you just gotta take the bad with the good. I mean who can't finish a damn painting?!

(I'm taking my family to Europe including Italy in June/July and I'll be mentioning this post when I show my wife and kids the unfinished da Vinci's paintings!)

 

[Electroman]

LeonardoArtistClub.com

 

[whitex]

Canuck, how many carriages did da Vinci sell to people with a promise of a free helicopter upgrade?

 

[brianman]

Canuck, how many carriages did da Vinci sell to people with a promise of a free helicopter upgrade?

Indeed.

 

[Canuck]

Canuck, how many carriages did da Vinci sell to people with a promise of a free helicopter upgrade?

Ha! There's no one around left to ask but it's well known that he disappeared completely from 1476 to 1478. No one can explain what he did or where he went during that time, except to present theories. At least we can always find Elon and Tesla (so far at least!).

 

[Twiglett]

aaand
three
two
one
...back in the room

 

[neroden]

That was their choice though, there was no need to actively sell the loaners to first time Tesla buyers, they just did that to meet quarterly targets. Had they wanted to keep their original word, the loaners only would have been available for sale to the person who was actually driving it at the time, and their trade in car would fill it's spot in the loaner pool until a replacement could arrive.

That trade-in wouldn't be top of the line, so Tesla would then have a not-top-of-the-line loaner.

Elon's vision was quite do-able, Tesla just chose not to actually do it.

Well, not really. He also claimed most service centers would have Roadster loaners. Suuuuuure.


I mostly worry about things which make owning the car impractical.

If Tesla backtracks on some promises... well, so I have a loaner which isn't a "P". Whatever!

If Tesla backtracks on other promises... it costs HOW MUCH to get the car serviced due to Tesla's newly-exorbitant cost to ship it from Nova Scotia? When Tesla promised $100? That's the sort of thing for which it would be right and appropriate for the Nova Scotia owner to demand that Tesla buy the car back at full purchase price and compensate the owner for the sales tax, because overnight, it makes the car impractical.

 

[green1]

That trade-in wouldn't be top of the line, so Tesla would then have a not-top-of-the-line loaner.

Which is what you're advocating anyway... and note I said "until it can be replaced" which should be 1-2 months tops. Tesla promised this, and went back on it. Just like so many other promises.

Well, not really. He also claimed most service centers would have Roadster loaners. Suuuuuure.

yeah, that was a stupid thing for him to promise.

I mostly worry about things which make owning the car impractical.

If Tesla backtracks on some promises... well, so I have a loaner which isn't a "P". Whatever!

If Tesla backtracks on other promises... it costs HOW MUCH to get the car serviced due to Tesla's newly-exorbitant cost to ship it from Nova Scotia? When Tesla promised $100? That's the sort of thing for which it would be right and appropriate for the Nova Scotia owner to demand that Tesla buy the car back at full purchase price and compensate the owner for the sales tax, because overnight, it makes the car impractical.

I don't think it's ok for them to back out of ANY promise. They're all bad, and they should be held accountable for each and every one of them.

 

[NewCow]

Not sure if this has been mentioned or acknowledged, but another data point to consider. I recently took my car in to get the rear-facing seat retrofit and something else, and they gave me a loaner to use for a few hours during the day. The loaner was actually a CPO model. Specifically, this one that is currently listed for sale:

85 kWh Performance Model S P40023 | Tesla Motors

Some have speculated that Tesla removed the listings in order to add to their service loaner fleet, but it seems that they already use CPOs as loaners and in this case kept it listed. Not that I have any better theories about what they're doing with their CPO inventory, but I am very curious. Makes me all that more grateful that I acted quickly and snapped up my CPO when I saw it... (2014 S60 19k miles $50.5k, ordered 12/22)

 

[Roamer]

I wonder if Tesla guessed wrong on demand for 70's. Suddenly there are lots of new 70's on the CPO site all pretty close in VIN number range.

 

[Electroman]

Makes me all that more grateful that I acted quickly and snapped up my CPO when I saw it... (2014 S60 19k miles $50.5k, ordered 12/22)

Just curious: what is the VIN? Did it have AP? Just trying to compare my 2014 S85 VIN 57K for $63k.

 

[MsElectric]

I wonder if Tesla guessed wrong on demand for 70's. Suddenly there are lots of new 70's on the CPO site all pretty close in VIN number range.

Or a bunch of people ordered a 70, fell in love with it and figured out how much better a 90D would be and upgraded right away

It's unlikely they would have just made a bunch of 70s without buyers when they have a long order list to fill.

 

[NewCow]

Or a bunch of people ordered a 70, fell in love with it and figured out how much better a 90D would be and upgraded right away

It's unlikely they would have just made a bunch of 70s without buyers when they have a long order list to fill.

There are no 70 CPOs listed, those are all new inventory models.

- - - Updated - - -

Just curious: what is the VIN? Did it have AP? Just trying to compare my 2014 S85 VIN 57K for $63k.

VIN 37xxx, no-AP since my car was first registered in May 2014, so presumably produced a few weeks prior to that. Only options were tech package, leather seats, and supercharging (which is actually all I care for anyway so it worked out well). Had ~19,600 miles at delivery. I just had the rear-facing seats retrofit for $3100, but that obvs wasn't included in the $50.5k purchase price. Here's from my design sheet:

 

[seclinton]

There are no 70 CPOs listed, those are all new inventory models.

- - - Updated - - -



VIN 37xxx,

How did you get a retrofit on 3rd row seat on such a late VIN? Mine is 10xxx, and i understand i missed the cuttoff for retrofit being over the 10k mark.

 

[green1]

How did you get a retrofit on 3rd row seat on such a late VIN? Mine is 10xxx, and i understand i missed the cuttoff for retrofit being over the 10k mark.

Retrofit is still possible, but it's much more expensive now as it involves also retrofitting rear strength members.

 

[mmd]

Not sure if this has been mentioned or acknowledged, but another data point to consider. I recently took my car in to get the rear-facing seat retrofit and something else, and they gave me a loaner to use for a few hours during the day. The loaner was actually a CPO model. Specifically, this one that is currently listed for sale:

85 kWh Performance Model S P40023 | Tesla Motors

Some have speculated that Tesla removed the listings in order to add to their service loaner fleet, but it seems that they already use CPOs as loaners and in this case kept it listed. Not that I have any better theories about what they're doing with their CPO inventory, but I am very curious. Makes me all that more grateful that I acted quickly and snapped up my CPO when I saw it... (2014 S60 19k miles $50.5k, ordered 12/22)

The speculation was started by members quoting service center employees saying as such. Your data point debunks that. And we have known this also, as the miles on many CPO cars keep increasing. There was no need to delist the CPO cars for use as loaners.
So, the reason that stands is that Tesla wants to lure CPO buyers into buying inventory cars instead, so their Q1 number will look good.

 

[whitex]

The speculation was started by members quoting service center employees saying as such. Your data point debunks that.

No it doesn't. It shows that they used to do that. Even if you had a proper example of this happenning after the CPO's were pulled, it may be a rare occurrence.

There was no need to delist the CPO cars for use as loaners.

There are many reasons.
1. Miles on a CPO are much cheaper than on a brand new inventory car. Even miles on a S60 are cheaper than miles on P85D. So, by fixing the CPO's in service, the price is fixed. If they have an S85 CPO as a loaner and it gets sold, then they have to pull a brand new P90D as a loaner, then the sale of the S85 now costs them more money by making a loaner more expensive.
2. CPO's used a loaners require cleanup, inspection and potential fixes twice, once to become a loaner and once to sell. With dedicated loaners CPO's for sale only go through that prep once (since they are never loaners). This includes taking pictures of CPO for potential sellers - if the car is a loaner, the old pictures may not be accurate (new dents, curb rash, etc).
3. Test drives and/or visual inspections (including taking pictures for non-local customer) are hard to arrange if cars are out with another customer. Someone who wants to buy a CPO from a local location would like to see, test drive and buy maybe even on the spot. A number of people complained about that on forums when buying a CPO.
4. There is inventory management involved, taking a CPO out of loaner status and picking a new one to be loaner. All that costs money (physically transporting cars, managing all that, etc).

So, the reason that stands is that Tesla wants to lure CPO buyers into buying inventory cars instead, so their Q1 number will look good.

Not really, it's just another speculation. It it further fed by the fact that in Dec'15 Tesla went on a discount spree to pump up their numbers, then come Jan'16 the prices went back up, causing people to complain and/or spin conspiracy theories.

 

[mmd]

No it doesn't. It shows that they used to do that. Even if you had a proper example of this happenning after the CPO's were pulled, it may be a rare occurrence.

whitex,
Please see NewCow's post above. It shows an example after the cpo purge. If one of the few members here has found one of the <100 CPOs listed, it's likely not a rare thing.

I agree with your other points. In fact, it was me upstream who pointed out the lower cost of CPO as loaner. If it is for cost savings on loaners, then this could be a more permanent change. That speculation also stands as of now.